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yorkipower · 03-02-2005, 12:52 PM

Hi!
I’ve put up other posts on clicker training in the past, so please browse through my past posts in addition to reading this. Also please check out my website under “links” for more information on clicker training. I have a separate page for clicker training as well.

Here’s a crash course. Clicker training is the dog version of training that animal behaviorist and marine mammal trainers have been using for years. When you see those trainers at SeaWorld blowing their whistles, what they are really doing is clicker training.

We really have Pavlov and his dog though to thank for all this and Karen Pryor for bringing the development of these early concepts into the world of dog training. With that intro – it’s actually pretty simple.

A clicker is a “conditioned reinforcer.” What that means is, you teach your dog to associate the sound of the click as a sign that something good is about to happen. The knowledge that something good is about to happen, “reinforces” the behavior that earned the click.

Here’s how it works (try this at home kids! Lol):

One of the easiest “early clicker” training exercises for dog and owner is teaching the hand bump. To begin:
1) If you have a clicker (you can get one at many pet shops, I sell one on my website, or you can go to the source – Karen Pryor’s own site). If you don’t many other things can be used instead – the click of a pen cap, a bell, a whistle. Just find something you can hold easily, makes a consistent sound, and that can be turned on and off quickly and efficiently.
2) Take some EXTRA special goodies such as dime sized slices of hotdog or small cubes of cheddar cheese and hold these pieces in the hand closest to your dog. A “bait bag” is recommended as you do not want to be fumbling with the goodies. The faster you can hand over the rewards, the faster this is going to work.
3) You are going to first “warm up” your clicker. Snap your clicker and not even as second later, hand over a small piece of goody. Do it again and again and again. Remember Pavlov’s dog? Well, here’s the part that we are borrowing from him. We want your dog to associate the clicker with the goodies the way Pavlov’s dog associated the bell with goodies.
a. Here’s a caveat –some dogs, especially small dogs, are noise sensitive or shy and may spook at the sound of the clicker. There a number of clickers on the market now that self-modulating but you can also muffle the sounds with a towel, put the clicker in your pocket or behind your back. Until you get your dog over her fear of the clicker, you will have to stay at the “warm up” phase for awhile. My last puppy needed me to stand on the back porch, chucking pieces of hotdog to her from at least 10 feet away before she learned that that the clicker was something good and not be feared!
4) Now here’s where clicker training takes a step further than Pavlov. Once your dog understands that the clicker means all things great and beautiful in the world, NOW you can use it to “reinforce” behaviors you want to recreate. As soon as your dog hears that “snap” she will wonder “OK, what was I doing when I heard that snap? Let me see if I can make my human do that again! Hmm .. . if I put my paw here will I get the snap? No? How about this? AH ha! There it is! These silly humans, its’ so easy to train them!”
5) Now you are ready to teach you hand touch. The reason this is a really good beginning exercise is that you can’t go wrong with it, it doesn’t require any special equipment. Plus, it’s a very simple movement with little in the way of “variations” which could confuse a dog (for example, the “sit” can be done in a number of different ways, butt down first, rolled into, from the down up, hips underneath, hips to the side. The more complicated the movement or gesture, the more elements need to be broken down into their simplest forms. The hand touch is so simple, one movement and your dog has got it). So here goes – put your hand out in front of your dog, palm facing towards her nose. If she is like most normal dogs, she will lean forward and sniff your palm. As soon as her nose makes contact with your skin “Click” and hand over the goodies. If she is that rare breed of dog that won’t lean forward and sniff your palm, you may have to “shape” the sniffing behavior in small increments. In other words, the slightest movement she gives you towards your hand you will click and reward. Then you will wait until she gives you slightly more movement and then more movement and so on until she finally touches your hand.
6) Once she has figured out that touching your palm earns her a click you can have fun with this my moving around the room and placing your hand in different directions. I’d begin by putting my hand at either side of her head to see if she turns to touch my hand. If she does that, I’d stand up and step a few feet away from her and show her my palm and see if she will come over. Soon enough, she will begin to follow you (hey, did you notice what a great way this is to teach the “come” command?). In agility, we use this exercise to teach dogs to follow our hands when we give directions on course.
7) When you think she really understands what is being asked, unlike traditional training where you would have used the command as you were teaching the exercise, only NOW do you add a command “touch.” Before you show her your palm and before you click, you say touch, she then touches and you click
8) The final stages of clicker training are “random reinforcement” – in which you do not reward every good performance but randomly select performances to click and ones not to click so that your dog isn’t dependant on rewards and the clicker to do the trick you are asking and then “proofing” where you add distractions and alternative choices to see if your dog truly understands the command and the behavior that is being requested
There are many great clicker books out there. For beginners I really like “Quick Clicks.” You can get this books from http://www.dogwise.com

03-02-2005, 12:52 PM	#8
yorkipower BANNED! Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: New York Posts: 446	clicker crash course Hi! I’ve put up other posts on clicker training in the past, so please browse through my past posts in addition to reading this. Also please check out my website under “links” for more information on clicker training. I have a separate page for clicker training as well. Here’s a crash course. Clicker training is the dog version of training that animal behaviorist and marine mammal trainers have been using for years. When you see those trainers at SeaWorld blowing their whistles, what they are really doing is clicker training. We really have Pavlov and his dog though to thank for all this and Karen Pryor for bringing the development of these early concepts into the world of dog training. With that intro – it’s actually pretty simple. A clicker is a “conditioned reinforcer.” What that means is, you teach your dog to associate the sound of the click as a sign that something good is about to happen. The knowledge that something good is about to happen, “reinforces” the behavior that earned the click. Here’s how it works (try this at home kids! Lol): One of the easiest “early clicker” training exercises for dog and owner is teaching the hand bump. To begin: 1) If you have a clicker (you can get one at many pet shops, I sell one on my website, or you can go to the source – Karen Pryor’s own site). If you don’t many other things can be used instead – the click of a pen cap, a bell, a whistle. Just find something you can hold easily, makes a consistent sound, and that can be turned on and off quickly and efficiently. 2) Take some EXTRA special goodies such as dime sized slices of hotdog or small cubes of cheddar cheese and hold these pieces in the hand closest to your dog. A “bait bag” is recommended as you do not want to be fumbling with the goodies. The faster you can hand over the rewards, the faster this is going to work. 3) You are going to first “warm up” your clicker. Snap your clicker and not even as second later, hand over a small piece of goody. Do it again and again and again. Remember Pavlov’s dog? Well, here’s the part that we are borrowing from him. We want your dog to associate the clicker with the goodies the way Pavlov’s dog associated the bell with goodies. a. Here’s a caveat –some dogs, especially small dogs, are noise sensitive or shy and may spook at the sound of the clicker. There a number of clickers on the market now that self-modulating but you can also muffle the sounds with a towel, put the clicker in your pocket or behind your back. Until you get your dog over her fear of the clicker, you will have to stay at the “warm up” phase for awhile. My last puppy needed me to stand on the back porch, chucking pieces of hotdog to her from at least 10 feet away before she learned that that the clicker was something good and not be feared! 4) Now here’s where clicker training takes a step further than Pavlov. Once your dog understands that the clicker means all things great and beautiful in the world, NOW you can use it to “reinforce” behaviors you want to recreate. As soon as your dog hears that “snap” she will wonder “OK, what was I doing when I heard that snap? Let me see if I can make my human do that again! Hmm .. . if I put my paw here will I get the snap? No? How about this? AH ha! There it is! These silly humans, its’ so easy to train them!” 5) Now you are ready to teach you hand touch. The reason this is a really good beginning exercise is that you can’t go wrong with it, it doesn’t require any special equipment. Plus, it’s a very simple movement with little in the way of “variations” which could confuse a dog (for example, the “sit” can be done in a number of different ways, butt down first, rolled into, from the down up, hips underneath, hips to the side. The more complicated the movement or gesture, the more elements need to be broken down into their simplest forms. The hand touch is so simple, one movement and your dog has got it). So here goes – put your hand out in front of your dog, palm facing towards her nose. If she is like most normal dogs, she will lean forward and sniff your palm. As soon as her nose makes contact with your skin “Click” and hand over the goodies. If she is that rare breed of dog that won’t lean forward and sniff your palm, you may have to “shape” the sniffing behavior in small increments. In other words, the slightest movement she gives you towards your hand you will click and reward. Then you will wait until she gives you slightly more movement and then more movement and so on until she finally touches your hand. 6) Once she has figured out that touching your palm earns her a click you can have fun with this my moving around the room and placing your hand in different directions. I’d begin by putting my hand at either side of her head to see if she turns to touch my hand. If she does that, I’d stand up and step a few feet away from her and show her my palm and see if she will come over. Soon enough, she will begin to follow you (hey, did you notice what a great way this is to teach the “come” command?). In agility, we use this exercise to teach dogs to follow our hands when we give directions on course. 7) When you think she really understands what is being asked, unlike traditional training where you would have used the command as you were teaching the exercise, only NOW do you add a command “touch.” Before you show her your palm and before you click, you say touch, she then touches and you click 8) The final stages of clicker training are “random reinforcement” – in which you do not reward every good performance but randomly select performances to click and ones not to click so that your dog isn’t dependant on rewards and the clicker to do the trick you are asking and then “proofing” where you add distractions and alternative choices to see if your dog truly understands the command and the behavior that is being requested There are many great clicker books out there. For beginners I really like “Quick Clicks.” You can get this books from http://www.dogwise.com Last edited by yorkipower; 03-02-2005 at 01:06 PM.